The pen plotters came from Tektronix and the inkjets either free or via
-pete
Late to the thread but I owned a HP DesignJet 1050C until recently. It's
similar to what was on the curb in Arlington, MA I believe?
They're beautiful machines. The ink carts can be had expired and will run.
The drive belt will degrade and turn to mush after ~14 years or so
depending on where it's stored. Replacements are $20 from eBay.
The ink carts and heads run $900 new but used I used to get them dirt
cheap via ebay, always expired by 10 years or so. Yellow is the first to
go.
Standard inkjet white paper from ebay is like $20 a roll for linear feet
at 36" wide.
My machine was 4 color not 6 color (no pastels.) Used it to print cheap
signage for a Makerfaire in Norfolk, signage for an arcade and video game
music event called MAGFest in the DC area and a few other events. I sold
it because I wasn't as involved in running events + there is one at the
local makerspace. Plus needed room for more arcades/pinballs.
New machines might lock out expired ink carts though.
I have owned pen plotters in the past as well, they are fun to watch.
But the HP designjets are cool machines. But physically somewhat large as
there is a lot of extra room on the left and right of the print area
compared to similar machines from Epson.
There are videos on youtube on swapping things like the ink delivery
system and the drive belt. I feared actually doing to work to replace the
drive belt but really it took like 30 minutes after watching the video and
having torx nearby.
--
: Ethan O'Toole
